


Honesty is the Best Policy

by Jinxin



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 18:59:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6295984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jinxin/pseuds/Jinxin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niles realizes that Corrin is impervious to his bullshit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Honesty is the Best Policy

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first request I received so I hope I was able to deliver. I had a lot of fun writing this and would be glad to do other requests.

“Corrin.” The sound of Silas’ voice broke Corrin’s concentration and his arrow missed the target by a few feet, embedding itself in a pine on the outskirts of the practice field. Silas smiled sheepishly and volunteered to retrieve the arrow. 

Corrin sighed, “no, I’ve got it. It’s entirely likely it would’ve ended up in the tree anyway.” He dropped his bow and began his trek to the distant tree. Silas followed.

“Sorry to interrupt you, but I just wanted to let you know that Niles is watching you again,” he said, nodding in the thief’s direction. 

Corrin didn’t bother looking; Niles had been watching him for weeks and he was in no mood to lay eyes on the retainer’s smug face. “Again?” he asked, “have you noticed him watching me often?”

“Yeah, kinda,” Silas replied, “I didn’t think it was—well, I still don’t think it’s a big thing, but I thought I’d tell you.”

“Thank you for letting me know.” They reached the tree and Corrin pulled at the arrow. Of course, it didn’t come loose and stayed stubbornly stuck. He yanked again to no avail. 

Silas snorted. 

Corrin whirled on his friend. “Do you have something else to say, Silas?” he asked. 

“Nope.” The way Silas popped his p’s never failed to grate on Corrin’s nerves. “Can I try?”

“Be my guest,” said Corrin with an exasperated sigh. 

Silas tugged as hard as he could as well but the arrow refused to budge. “Huh. You might have to give up on that one.”

“Allow me,” a voice purred close enough to his ear that he could feel the speaker’s breath. Even if he weren’t able to tell Niles by his voice, the thief’s insistence on invading his personal space would have given him away. 

Niles pulled out one of his throwing knives and deftly removed the arrowhead from the bark. He spun the arrow about his hand in the same way Leo spun quills. Like master, like retainer, he supposed. 

Corrin plucked the arrow out of Niles’ hand. “Thank you very much, Niles,” Corrin said pleasantly. 

“Anything for the prince,” Niles replied with an exaggerated bow and a cheeky wink. 

“Anything, hm? Corrin mused, “I’ll hold you to that.”

Corrin watched the thief lose composure for a split-second but the easy smirk returned just as quickly, “hold me to whatever you want.”

Sometimes, the man’s lines were all too predictable. “I’m more of an ‘M’ actually, but I’m sure we can make something work.”

Niles did not regain his composure as readily this time. Neither did Silas, for that matter. The cavalier was in stitches. 

“I think that’s enough archery for one day. I’m going to go find Felicia for tea. Silas—we’ll spar later?” Corrin asked, slinging his bow over one shoulder. 

“Sure,” Silas managed between giggles.

“Goodbye Niles.”

Niles was still yet to recover and said nothing. It was only when Corrin was well out of sight that Niles could stop gaping after the prince with a face redder than the blood of any man he’d claimed to have murdered. He was too shocked to be angry with the laughing cavalier.

“He sure got you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you blush before,” Silas commented. 

“Shall we make it even?” Niles asked, but his heart wasn’t in it and Silas was hardly affected. 

The grey-haired soldier clapped him on the back. “I’ve already got a date for tonight—wouldn’t want to make her jealous, yeah? But thanks for cheering Corrin up; he’s been in a pretty bad mood lately.” Silas went off whistling and Niles couldn’t help but wonder if he was losing his touch.

 

In the evening, Silas and Corrin did indeed meet to spar. Corrin was much more comfortable with a sword than a bow and Silas was a quick study in most anything—it made for a good match most days. Today however, Corrin was rather distracted and Silas feared he might accidentally injure the preoccupied prince. 

“You’re not thinking about Niles, are you?” Silas asked, leaning against his sword. 

Silas wasn’t sure his friend had heard him at first but after a pregnant moment, Corrin threw down his blade and sat down on the grass next to it. “Niles? Why would I be thinking about Niles?” he half-ranted.

Silas shrugged and joined him on the ground. “You were flirting pretty intensely back there.”

“Flirting…I suppose I was, but I don’t have any particular interest in Niles,” Corrin said, raking a hand through his hair. 

“Could have fooled me.”

Corrin rolled his eyes. “I knew someone like Niles in the Northern Fortress; I know how to deal with his type.”

“Over-aggressive flirt?” Silas suggested.

“No—people like Niles just thrive on making others uncomfortable. You play his game and he doesn’t know what to do. It’s easy,” Corrin explained. 

Silas hummed noncommittally. “So are you actually an ‘M’ or?” He trailed off. 

“Why? Interested?” Corrin teased. 

“Maybe.” Silas looked at him seriously and Corrin held his gaze.

“It doesn’t work on me,” Corrin said when he grew tired of their staring contest.

Silas laughed. “It was worth a shot. I guess you two aren’t quite as alike as I thought.”

“You thought us alike?” Corrin hardly considered himself in the same category as the mercurial thief and wondered if he ought to be insulted. 

Silas shrugged. “Kind of, but I guess I still don’t have you pinned. You really have changed a lot.”

“I should hope so,” Corrin snorted, “I was eight when I last saw you; thirteen years is a long time to stay the same.”

“Nah, I’m talking about the last few months. I can’t keep up.” If Corrin was an expert on dealing with men likes Niles, he was hopeless when it came to Silas. His best friend’s blunt honesty and willingness to make himself vulnerable never failed to astound Corrin. 

“I’m not going to leave you behind,” Corrin said softly, leaning his head on the man’s shoulder. 

When Silas chuckled, he could feel the sound’s vibrations. “I’ve spent this long chasing after you—you think you’d get away that easily?”

Corrin laughed with him. “I’m sorry I’ve been so difficult this past week—it’s just the stress. I mean, now even Xander is looking to me to lead this army, like I have any experience doing that. He’s a conquering hero and this is my first time actually seeing Nohr. I’m clearly out of my depth,” he confessed. 

“Well…if it gets to be too much, we could always run away.” Silas had always been quick to offer him a way out, even at his own expense. 

“Just run away?”

“Yeah, we can go wherever you want. I’ve still got that list.” Only Silas. 

“I can’t imagine my siblings will be overly pleased with my abandoning them and I hate to think about what the king would do.” Corrin frowned as he remembered his place. It was nice to dream of leaving all his troubles behind, but it would be impossible. Realistically, he’d either die fighting Hoshido or he’d die fleeing from Nohr. He was trapped.

“I hate seeing you like this,” Silas said with a sad sigh, “maybe you should indulge in someone like Niles—gods know you need the release more than any of us.”

“You’ve a dirtier mind than anyone gives you credit for, you know that?” Corrin asked, “and you’d really have me sleep with Niles?”

“Well, maybe not Niles. If you’re looking for a man, Kaze would be a better choice. He’s not just sticking around out of some out-dated sense of loyalty, you know. Besides that, he’s about as good-looking as they come.”

“Does your recommending Kaze have anything to do with your personal bias?” It came as a surprise to some that Silas got on so well with the rather reserved Hoshidan, but Corrin knew Silas better than that. He’d correctly perceived the ninja was lonely amongst his new allies and sought to correct that. As far as Corrin could tell, he’d succeeded, though that much didn’t come as a surprise. Silas was every lonely person’s knight-in-shining-armor. 

“Gotta look out for my friends,” Silas replied. 

“You always do.”

 

The next time they met, Niles seemed eager to prove himself unflappable. Corrin could understand the desire, but wished he hadn’t been cornered in the library while reading his book on war tactics. Leo had insisted he read it and Corrin was finding it was actually quite helpful. The Nohrian army would benefit greatly if Corrin could be a little more informed. The thief must have known that. 

And yet, Niles persisted in pestering him. At the moment, he was toying with the strands of hair that tickled the base of Corrin’s throat. 

“You know Niles," Corrin said loudly, “if your goal is to drive everyone away with your incessant teasing—which we both know it is—I can stutter and flush right now just like you want and you can leave me to my book.”

“I’d rather see you stutter and flush and stick around to see what else you might do with a little more prodding,” Niles shot back. 

Corrin wanted to scream. He slammed his book shut and threw it none too gently onto the table in front of him. “You have my attention—what will you do with it?” 

In hindsight, it had been a bad idea to challenge Niles, but Corrin honestly did not believe the thief would be bold enough to kiss him. The man even had the gall to bite his lip. Corrin did not push him away, seeing as rejection was what he sought in the first place. 

Niles did not break the kiss as soon as Corrin figured he would either. Instead, he seemed to take Corrin’s inaction as willingness, and managed to yank the prince roughly onto his lap, trapping him between the amorous thief and the table. 

Corrin caved and pulled back as far as he was allowed. Perhaps he’d underestimated Niles. 

“Your point has been made, Niles. You win,” Corrin said through gritted teeth. Admittedly, the prince hated to lose and he hated more to be wrong. The Niles he knew would never have pushed him this far. He’d made a grave error.

Niles smirked. “I don’t win until you realize I’m not playing.”

To Corrin’s surprise, the thief was being honest. Corrin had long been able to tell a liar, but Niles met his gaze confidently. It made Corrin squirm to see the thief’s sole visible eye darkened with lust. 

“I’m sure there are loads of men and women who’d be willing to satisfy your needs,” Corrin said, subtly struggling to free himself. Niles’ hands went to his hips and kept him from succeeding. 

“And only one I’m interested in.” Niles was now trailing his lips down the column of Corrin’s throat. 

“I don’t recall counting myself among those men and women,” Corrin retorted even as he leaned into the thief’s touch. 

“Good,” Niles quipped when he’d finished sucking at a stretch of skin where Corrin’s neck met his shoulder. It would leave a mark for certain. “Because I’m looking for much more than a man or woman to satisfy my needs, as you put it.”

“Oh?”

“I’m far more interesting in securing myself a husband—sorry, that’s not entirely truthful. I’m only interested in securing you as my husband.” 

Corrin could tell he wasn’t lying but could hardly believe his words. “It’s not funny when you take the joke so far.”

“It’s equally humorless to have an honest marriage proposal made out to be a farce,” Niles replied. Corrin flushed when he realized Niles was truly, truly serious. 

“Niles, I’m not going to marry the first man who pins me against a table and gives me a hickey.” This time when Corrin struggled to move, Niles let him, looking far more bemused than he should for a man whose proposal had been so succinctly shot down. 

“What about the second?” he asked, when Corrin was standing beside him. 

That earned a smile from the prince. “Maybe. We’ll have to see, won’t we?” Before Niles could catch him again, Corrin darted out of his reach, snatching up the tactics book as he went. “I’d like to excuse myself to resume my reading, but I’m afraid I’ll need to find myself a close-lipped healer to get rid of your little parting gift.”

“Or you could leave it,” Niles drawled, admiring his bruising handiwork. 

“Goodbye Niles,” Corrin said.

“Goodbye love,” Niles called back, pleased to see Corrin stumble slightly on his way out. He supposed he owed the cavalier a favor. He’d never have guessed the prince had a weakness for honesty.


End file.
